A Promise You Can Keep
by cruelestmonth
Summary: A familiar face can improve virtually any given scenario.


Title: A Promise You Can Keep

Characters: Shinji and Jushiro with appearances from Stark, Lilynette, Kira and Shunsui among others.

Summary: A familiar face can improve virtually any given scenario.

Rating: PG-13 – Conversations and a few swears. If you squint, there's pre-slash. Sort of.

Disclaimer: For fun, not profit.

Author's Note: The prompt for this was: iBleach ; Ukitake, Shinji ; promise./i

It does contain possible spoilers as well as a potential way for the battle in the latest chapters to end.

*

There were a lot of things that Shinji Hirako had never imagined himself doing again, but his second and more successful confrontation with Aizen had always been inevitable. That it wasn't the final showdown didn't come as much of a surprise either. Either way, Shinji hadn't cared. The battle was the one thing he'd been looking forward to, regardless of its resolution or lack thereof.

He hadn't expected, however, to fight alongside any shinigami in order to do so. He hadn't expected to be able to talk to anyone as if nothing had happened. As if they hadn't ignored him for at least a hundred years.

So while he didn't regret helping them at all, that still didn't mean that everything was forgiven. The aid that several of the shinigami had willingly provided had been a nice surprise, the time out that arrived was welcome, and the hasty retreat Aizen left on was a relief considering the literal pile of broken soul reapers he'd left behind, but none of that turned injuries and neglect into bygones. It didn't change lame-ass rules in place that would keep them out of the Society they'd protected for at least another hundred years.

Flash stepping his way past those he could not allow himself to talk to let alone completely forgive, Shinji stood with his zanpakuto across his shoulders watching a vice-captain he didn't know (even if he'd heard part of his name at one point during that day) patch a very still and quiet Ukitake back together. Too bad that creeper fox-faced bastard had been on a first name basis with the blond. If he'd had eavesdropped and heard a last name, Shinji would have something to call the 3rd squad member other than Oi, you.

While keeping a somewhat impromptu vigil, Shinji scanned the rubble and other injured shinigami in the air and on the ground thoughtfully. There was still no sign of Ichigo and his little friends, but maybe they'd all gone back to their real home only time would tell. In the mean time, Hirako's eyebrows furrowed as he noticed members of his own crew conversing with people they knew as well as people none of them could have possibly met before.

In Kensei's case, he could accept that the ongoing interaction with a dark-haired and scarred shinigami was a result of idle curiosity. It wasn't often that you met someone with your tattoo on his face.

The rest of them— Idiots. Talking to people who didn't give them the time of day before now. — well, they weren't exactly the smartest fish in the pond.

Several arrancar remained along them, most in critical condition, and currently Urahara and Mayuri were arguing over who would get to tinker with them. Regardless of the insults traded, they both seemed about as happy to see one another as they were capable of expressing. This was to be the first of many arguments, Shinji imagined, between them and between others.

The only arrancars still literally standing remained close together some short distance away. The male kept his distance and protectively stood between everyone else and the young girl he'd arrived with. Stark. The sort of name you'd expect Aizen to give to someone. It said nothing, did nothing, and sounded like crap.

Shinji figured they could take those two with them maybe if it came to them getting dissected by a psychopath or doing chores at Uruhara's store. They'd be spared by someone ultimately though. Because they couldn't possibly be any more annoying than than just about everyone else assembled there including most of the vaizards. A century later, and Hiyori and Mashiro still got on his nerves.

When one considered that Stark and the girl (whose name he couldn't be bothered to remember) were two halves of a whole, the idea that self-sacrifice for a cause that seemed doomed to fail had proved to be an unlikely option for Stark to take was not surprising. Maybe he'd been willing to stand there and take cero upon cero with no regard for his own well-being, if he hadn't been so keen on protecting the girl that made up the other half of him. Besides, no one liked being cannon fodder.

"You'd probably hear everyone plotting and bickering a little better if you came a bit closer," he called out before prodding Izuru Whoever with the hilt of his zanpakuto. "How's it going down there?"

"Hirako-san… It would be easier if you were more patient."

"Tch." Shinji looked back over at Stark who was all but glaring at him. Eventually he yawned and shrugged, a bit too lazy to maintain a grudge for long, perhaps.

Then again, why would he? Sure, other Espada were suffering now since healing them was a priority, but that didn't mean it would make a big difference to Stark.

Aizen wasn't big on making friends and so there was no doubt that the value of friendship among comrades hadn't been a teaching worth imparting to his creations. The Primera Espada was better off than most though. Stuck with that kid, he'd had to learn to tolerate someone if not care about someone in addition to himself.

Aizen wouldn't have noticed because there were two parts of the same person. He wouldn't have imagined that would have much of an impact because Aizen's only real weakness was his ability to profoundly underestimate the mental prowess of everyone outside of himself. Like these creatures had been fashioned to look like shinigami, for example. One could argue they had, therefore, been fashioned in Aizen's own image, and that Shinji's former vice-captain ought to have understand what that meant better than everyone else. It made them smart, deadly, disloyal, and completely fucked in the head.

Pausing yet another short distance away, Stark looked over to where Lisa was doing her best to ignore Shunsui's overeager advances despite his injuries, and then down without saying much of anything.

"I know, right? Some friend," Shinji observed coolly before crouching down. "How much longer?"

Izuru Something eyed him testily before wiping at his forehead. The vaizard didn't feel bad for being a pain, but he did appreciate the fact that the vice-captain was definitely having one hell of a day. He wasn't alone in that, but having to nearly confront his former captain… Well, Izuru had lucked out which was more than Shinji could say of half of the people assembled there.

"Not much, but… Moving him will be difficult."

Stark continued to stand there silently while the girl crouched down too and eyed Ukitake with an uncertain expression on her features as if she couldn't decide if she was worried or if she wanted to kick him in the face.

"He'll be fine," the male arrancar muttered around the same time as Shinji said "I can help out."

"Not that I don't appreciate your continued concern, Hirako-san—"

"Call me Shinji. We're all temporarily friends."

Izuru sighed. "Not that I don't appreciate your continued concern, Shinji-san, but why are you so eager to help?"

"I made myself a promise."

"Hn."

Clearly Vice-captain Izuru was hard to impress. He didn't even seem to want to know more information than that, and he certainly didn't seem inclined to introduce himself. Then again, a lot of his old friends had come to call recently, so maybe Izuru didn't want to make any new ones.

The little girl arrancar looked up after an awkward minute had passed, tilting her head expectantly. "What kind of promise?"

"That if I ever ended up back here, I'd give myself a chance to talk to someone I missed."

"And?"

"He may not look like much with a hole through his chest, but this guy's one of the only people I missed."

"Why?"

"We got along. He's a good guy. All honorable and kind and stuff like that. What you see is what you get with him. You'll realize how important that is when you're older."

She scowled and folded her arms, but let it go. It had been quite a day for her too and after so much fighting, she probably didn't feel much like bickering. Maybe later then.

"He'll be fine," Izuru insisted in a somewhat kinder tone although he didn't seem to know who to direct that comment to. It was easy to tell he wasn't really 4th division anymore, but at least he wasn't as big a wimp as half of that squad still seemed to be. They also had lousy timing seeing as they were only just starting to filter in and fix people.

"I don't doubt that," Shinji agreed straightening up and eying Stark. "What's your deal?"

"She wanted to see how he's doing."

"I see. You didn't care one way or the other."

Stark simply shrugged and for once, Shinji left it at that. Whatever was going on there wasn't something the Espada had sorted out for himself.

"That's all right," he added, patting the guy on the back and smirking widely at the confused reaction that gesture received.

*

"Is this really gonna hold?" he asked for the fourteenth time.

Izuru just stared at him and walked on ahead.

Shinji made a face behind his back and stared down at the Captain he was carrying. For a while there, he'd thought maybe he'd have to draw straws with the arrancars, but Stark and his other half seemed content to wander around with them. How much longer they actually had wanted to stay was hard to say, but they didn't really have anywhere to go.

But he wasn't really concerned about their problems. The vaizard was a little preoccupied with looking over his unconscious friend. Hopefully whatever healing and bandaging had been done would last and he wouldn't end up with blood all over himself. Especially not all over his yellow shirt. Next time he went into battle, he was going back to black.

"He doesn't have a fever, right?"

Izuru huffed and turned around. "He is fine, Hirako-san. He would probably be better if you kept quiet."

Another somewhat hoarse voice chimed in: "I'm fine right now… Where am I exactly?"

Shinji glanced down and smirked. "Hello again."

Ukitake managed a feeble smile before lightly tracing his fingers over the bandages covering a considerable portion of his torso as if they were old friends. His moves were sluggish, but not as slow as they might have been. Sure, the Captain was in bad shape, but he hadn't been sick yet. Obviously that made a difference.

"You will need to rest, but you should be on the mend," Izuru murmured quietly in a respectful tone that he probably hadn't had a chance to use in hours. He certainly hadn't used it much around the vaizard and the arrancars.

"Thank you, Kira-fukutaichou" the older man replied and that seemed to be enough for the vice-captain.

Kira nodded, bowing slightly at the waist, and then continued walking. He sure was sullen and emo. Whatever. Eventually Shinji would talk to him again though. No sense letting a perfectly good last name go to waste.

If Ukitake was fazed at all by being carried around by someone who he hadn't seen in over a hundred years, it didn't really show. The smile that stayed on his lips was a little sadder around the edges, but they'd both gotten older and seen quite a bit. Too much, really. So it was hard to ascertain as to whether or not Shinji was a contributing factor.

"How long was I asleep?"

"Not long. You missed a lot of fighting," Shinji said, bringing him up a little closer to his chest as he continued moving towards the others. All of the vaizards were all in one piece so… Everything was all right for the time being even if they'd have to leave soon enough. The idea of visiting appealed to him, but the idea of pretending anything that had transpired previously was acceptable was anything but.

"I'm sure there will be more soon enough. Where is--"

Shinji snorted. "Where you'd expect him to be."

Instead of looking even slightly annoyed, Ukitake just laughed briefly, pain flashing in his eyes from the coughing that followed. "Ah. Well, that's only to be expected."

Shinji felt compelled to nod even though he didn't think it was. But then it probably hadn't occurred to Kyoraku that his friend could have died. "He did take a cero for you," he added more as a reminder to himself than to Jushiro.

"He did. I'll thank him later when I'm feeling more grateful."

The vaizard chuckled before deciding he ought to bring the shinigami further up to date on how things had progressed since he'd been taken out of the game. "The arrancar that did it is still around. Stark."

"That's all right too."

"Is it?"

"There was a little girl with him. Is she…?"

Shinji nodded again. "She's still around. And very loud too."

Ukitake had always liked children or, at least, the younger-looking shinigami so it only figured that the trend had continued long after Shinji had left the Soul Society behind. It wasn't in a stranger with candy and great big van sort of way although it certainly seemed like that from time to time. The reason Jushiro was so animated around young people was probably that the sickly Captain was never going to have any children of his own, because he wasn't selfish enough to risk passing his disease onto someone else. Shinji was pretty sure there were other reasons, but it didn't pay to secondguess a friend's sexual orientation. And regardless of the whys, Ukitake probably felt a little lonely as result seeing as he was one of the few guys in the Soul Society who would have made for a good father.

"Then. I'm glad. The damage they did… It could have been worse."

Forgiveness was an interesting thing. Shinji found that he sort of hated it. "So he gets a second chance then? You guys will let him hang out here with you?"

Ukitake sighed quietly and reached up slowly. He tentatively patted Shinji's cheek once then one more time. "I don't know if that's what I'd call it… He gets to live. Sometimes that's enough. Sometimes it isn't."

"Yeah."

"Thank you."

"Ain't no big thing," the vaizard replied in an effort to lighten the mood. "We like to show off."

"After everything that happened, it could be considered one. That is, I consider it to be one. What you did… That was…

"Very awesome of me?" Shinji teased.

"Very honorable of you."

"You're such an old man, aren't you?"

"And you're still constantly interrupting people."

Shinji made a face. "…Tch."

Satisfied, Ukitake smiled and continued. "Anyway, I for one am grateful for your assistance. And I'm glad to see you."

He nodded stiffly. "Yeah, well, it's just… a once-in-a-lifetime deal slash bail-out. I doubt it'll happen again."

Frowning a little, the shinigami sighed and glanced around as if trying to find something else to focus on instead of Shinji's face. "We live a long time."

"Yeah."

Eventually Ukitake looked back up at him. "At least… Stay long enough for tea?"

The look on his face made the vaizard feel like he'd just killed a baby rabbit or maimed a small deer. "All right, old man. I'll stay for tea."

"Thank you," was said so quietly that Shinji almost didn't hear the words leaving Ukitake's mouth.

After that, it didn't take a genius to realize what the Captain had assumed, and as interesting as it was to actually be able to upset someone with denying him his company, Shinji didn't have the heart or stomach to prolong the agony. So he sighed a little himself before shrugging as best he could with Ukitake still in his arms.

"Just for the record and because I think you're still a little brain-addled from being used as some mental kid's hand puppet, I'll visit you." Whether his kind was wanted there or not, Shinji felt like he was owed some kind of visitation rights anyway. He'd saved all of their asses. If he wanted to visit and drink tea, he'd damn well visit and take as many tea biscuits as he could fit into his rather large mouth. "Just the same, you're on your own next time that shit-head comes to call."

"Ah." Jushiro's smile indicated that he didn't believe that for a second, but he was wise enough not to say anything about it.

That was the worst part right there. The knowing that if any of the stupid shinigami got attacked again, the vaizards would probably show up. If only to rub it in their faces that they couldn't look after themselves properly. Of course, Shinji would claim it was for Ichigo or some nonsense like that, but it would be for other reasons he was never going to own up to. And that was enough. It would have to be.

"But not every day," he grumbled as if he was being horribly inconvenienced and only visiting out of some kind of obligation. Then again, Shinji did have that promise he'd made to himself. He figured he ought to keep it. "I have better things to do."

"Of course."

"And I'm not trimming bonsai during these visits that might happen once a month if I feel like honoring you with my presence on a semi-regular basis."

Ukitake nodded his approval and smirked gently. "I wouldn't dream of asking such an important person to do that."

"And you have to make the kind of tea I like."

"If they still make it. That herb might have gone extinct."

Scowling, Shinji stopped mid-stride and glared down. "Stop looking all happy about this. You're damned lucky you're an invalid right now."

"I suppose so."

"You better know so," he corrected. "Now let's go get that tea stuff over with. Then we'll see about me finding someone else to dump you on."

The captain just yawned a bit and when he spoke it sounded like he was biting back laughter. "Did I mention how nice it is to see that you haven't changed?"

Shinji sighed but didn't argue choosing to chuckle instead. Unsurprisingly, he didn't mind much when Ukitake joined in. "Yeah, well… Right back atcha."

*


End file.
